The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Sunday, April 05, 2009

"He left behind a watch collection that Prince Charles would be envious of."

After four years as a fugitive, alleged hedge fund swindler Won Sok Lee was in U.S. District Court on Friday morning; having been arrested in his native Korea in February as he tried to board a plane to Argentina.Lee faces more than 30 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with KL Financial Group, which swindled wealthy Palm Beach residents out of almost $200 million.

A couple of you have emailed me the story about the federal lawsuit by ASA David Ranck against State Attorney Kathy Rundle. The Herald had an editorial about the case here. And Jay Weaver has been covering the case -- here's a snippet from the latest article:

The original prosecutor on the case, David Ranck, had similar misgivings about Espinosa's shooting of the teen. Ranck was taken off the case by FernándezRundle after he told the Miami-Dade lead detective it was "not a good shoot" early in the investigation."The deceased was found unarmed, and no firearm was found around where he fell nor on the codefendant when he was captured, " Ranck wrote in an office memo a month after the January 2004 shooting, noting that homicide detective Charles "Buck" McCully told him that no gun was ever found.Also in the memo, Ranck alleged an "appearance of impropriety" because a Miami-Dade police major, Angus Butler, had called the state attorney's office to have him removed from the case. Ranck, who said he was taken off the case for "diplomatic reasons, " raised doubts about the "independence" of FernándezRundle's office.Last August, Ranck sued FernándezRundle and her top two assistants after she suspended him without pay for 30 days because he posted his memo on the Justice Building Blog, a Miami-Dade legal community website. Ranck said he posted it in May 2008 only after he had been assured by prosecutor Richard Scruggs that the case would be closed. A key hearing in Ranck's federal lawsuit is set for June. For his part, Llanes pleaded guilty in 2005 to burglary and second-degree felony murder charges, being held responsible for the officer's fatal shooting of Barquin. Llanes received a six-year probationary sentence as a youth offender.

There's Rumpole making news again. The case raises some interesting questions -- can a prosecutor be suspended for speaking out about the handling of a case?

5 comments:

Oh my, someone has doubts about the politics and political motivations of the M-D State Attorney? There is nothing to doubt. This county has a long history of political hack SAttorneys who dress up to look like a real law enforcement official. Whether it was Gerstein, Reno, or this one, they know NOTHING of criminal law and running an office of prosecutors. Only how to try to be in society or other silly circles.

8:48 -- As for Janet Reno, whatever else you may think of her (and I happen to have a great deal of respect for her character, abilities, and accomplishments) you will be hard-pressed to find anyone, even her most committed detractors, who would accuse her of running in “society” circles.

I do agree she had integrity .... if only her law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and Federal criminal law knowledge base would have been on par with her misdirected focus to save the whales/children mentality. Elian being taken at gunpoint, the rise of Al Queda, and the FBI raids were the height of stupidity and mostly she is to blame.

Well at least Holder is worse, so we may actually come to believe she was marginally qualified to be AG of the US.

The Southern District of Florida blog was started by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.